Peter J. Kaiser
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©2025 Peter J. Kaiser
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Three (or less) Randomized Object Records from the Collection of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
This project explores the intersection of data analysis, visualization, and serendipitous discovery in cultural heritage collections. Drawing inspiration from museum research on designing for chance-based exploration and the random query generator in the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum’s API, the project uses Python and the pandas library to create an interactive tool for engaging with collection data.
The program allows users to select specific data fields while randomizing values within those fields to generate unique sets of records. By enabling repeated execution with ever-changing results, the tool encourages playful and unexpected encounters with collection items, demonstrating how computational methods can enhance exploration in cultural heritage databases.
The program (and instructions) is freely available here on GitHub.